Vakatawa hat-trick sets up crushing French win over Samoa

France’s Fiji-born winger Virimi Vakatawa showcased all his sevens skills with a hat-trick of well-taken tries as Guy Noves’ team ran out comfortable 52-8 winners over Samoa on Saturday.
Vakatawa, whose selection ahead of in-form Clermont rival – and fellow Fijian – Noa Nakaitaci had raised eyebrows, enjoyed a rampant match at Toulouse’s Municipal Stadium.
The French forwards dominated their Samoan opponents from the off, handing the home team a perfect platform to play some ambitious rugby under no real pressure.
The result was a seven-try romp, with Yoann Huget, Gael Fickou, Charles Ollivon also crossing along with a late penalty try, Maxime Machenaud and later Baptiste Serin keeping the scoreboard ticking with their boots.
“It is a little bit of the glass half-full and half-empty,” said Noves.
“When you win, it’s harder to see what didn’t work. Outside of the result, we need to be more vigilant but we all understand that we are trying to build a future for the French team.”
Samoa took an early lead after Vakatawa infringed on the floor, fly-half Patrick Fa’apale sending over a penalty.
France scrum-half Machenaud responded almost immediately with his own penalty after a late tackle on skipper Guilhem Guirado.
Vakawata then showed all his guile and power for his first try, evading Paul Williams’ tackle and the covering No 8 Genesis Mamea-Lemalu to touch down for a try in the corner.
The Fiji-born winger, contracted to the French sevens team with whom he played at the Rio Olympics, was a constant thorn in Samoa’s side as Machenaud extended France’s lead with a second penalty.
When centre Wesley Fofana stripped isolated Alafoti Fa’osiliva of the ball, a smart offload found Huget, who sprinted in for France’s second try.
Toulon’s Ollivon was on hand to finish off an 80-metre move started by Fofana as France punished a lax Samoan defence.
Vakawata was brought down but the ball was quickly recycled, with the in-form Ollivon on hand to slide over.
Machenaud missed the two conversions but hit a third penalty to hand France a 26-3 half-time lead.
Samoa started the second period as they needed to, Reynold Lee-Lo skinning France’s New Zealand-born prop Uini Atonio after a clever midfield move.
France then suffered a blow when fly-half Francois Trinh-Duc suffered a broken forearm, but steadied nerves when replacement Fickou was played in for the home side’s fourth try.
Vakatawa scorched in for his second after Fofana’s line break and Scott Spedding’s pass set the Fijian off down the touchline.
Camille Chat was denied a try by a fine covering tackle from Paul Williams, but with Samoan heads down, English referee JP Doyle was left with no option than to hand France a penalty try after a series of scrums on the Pacific Islanders’ line.
The icing on France’s cake came when Vakatawa jinked in for his third try, Serin booting the two late conversions.